IRONMAN 70.3 Mossel BayVerified
IRONMAN 70.3 Mossel Bay: 87 km bike leg, 900 m of climbing. Elevation profile, what the terrain asks of you, the weather this race day usually brings, and how to pace this course.
Course intel
One out-and-back lap: from De Bakke Santos beach, out along the Herbertsdale road to the U-turn at Uitkyk. The organizers list 1,020 m of elevation gain and clearly position it as a hilly, challenging course. Late November is early summer in South Africa; the coastal wind is strong, and headwind and tailwind swap on the way back.
Source: Adapted from the official course description (the course page on ironman.com)
The terrain on this course
- Flat (±1.2%) makes up 46%
- Main climb 0.3–2.6 km: 121 m of gain (avg 5.2%)
- Main climb 25.9–28.1 km: 80 m of gain (avg 3.7%)
- Main climb 46.8–53.4 km: 276 m of gain (avg 4.2%)
Speed score
There is a climb longer than 2 km out there: go in at an intensity you can hold to the top, and only add past halfway if you feel good. Riders who go hard from the bottom mostly bleed speed in the back half.
Historical race-day weather (around 11-22): 19.7°C · Wind 3.1 m/s
0 to 100, and the higher it is the easier it is to post a good time. Points come off for terrain, for corners, and for the heat and wind this race has actually had over the last five years at the same time of year. Full explanation in the article “How the course score works”.